STAYING ON TOP OF DEVELOPING TREATMENTS CAN HELP DIFFERENTIATE YOUR SENIOR CARE ORGANIZATION.

Some of us at MOVE recently attended the Leading Age conference for senior care organizations. One of our key takeaways was how staying abreast of industry knowledge can help senior care organizations differentiate themselves in a competitive market. By demonstrating an awareness of the latest treatments, these organizations can show that they are working to provide the best care for their residents. As an example, we’d like to share some of what we learned from the conference regarding Alzheimer’s treatments.

ALTERNATIVES TO DRUG-BASED ALZHEIMER’S INTERVENTIONS

The big disappointment in senior health news last October was the failure of Eli Lilly’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug, solanezumab, to yield results any better than a placebo in their latest clinical trial. “It’s not going to be disease-modifying therapy for mild patients, so that’s heartbreaking,” said Lilly’s incoming president, Dave Ricks. In fact, the company announced it no longer plans to seek regulatory approval for use of the drug in treating symptomatic patients.

While the search for a medication that can stall or reverse Alzheimer’s continues, non-pharmaceutical approaches have already shown promise not only for symptom relief, but for dementia prevention.

SYMPTOM RELIEF AND REDUCTION OF DEMENTIA ONSET

At their 2016 Annual Meeting in Indianapolis in November, keynote speaker Sanjay Gupta highlighted an NIH-funded, longitudinal study called Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE). This study of over 2800 seniors showed cognitive improvements—processing speed and reasoning abilities—in subjects who participated in ten, 1- to 2-hour cognitive training sessions over a 5-week period. Remarkably, the improvements persisted for 10 years after the original training sessions. Even more encouraging was the 33% reduction in dementia onset over the 10-year period for those who participated in the processing speed portion of the training, compared with a control group. The reduction was even more significant (45%) for those who took “booster” training. The processing speed training software used in the study is now commercially available for individual use at www.BrainHQ.com.

SYMPTOM RELIEF AND REDUCED MEDICATION

Also at the LeadingAge meeting, LeadingAge conferred their 2016 National Excellence in Research and Education Award on a recent study called the Birdsong Initiative. This six-month study showed statistically significant improvements in symptoms both for dementia patients and for their care-givers when the patients regularly used touch-screen computers to interact with “enriching content customized to their personal interests and cognitive ability.” In addition to improved ratings on the Affect Balance Scale (measuring psychological well-being), 40% of patients in the study were able to have their antipsychotic drug doses reduced, with the potential for lessening or avoiding the side-effects associated with these medications. The study also resulted in reduction of systolic blood pressure—a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease for people over 50—for residents using the computers. Plus, caregivers experienced reduced stress based on the Perceived Stress Scale.

“We can improve lives of those suffering with dementia through creative, non-pharmaceutical approaches,” said J. Benjamin Unkle, Jr., CEO of Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, the senior care facility whose Foundation Board Member Susan Birdsong, proposed and funded the touch-screen computer study. The research was conducted at Westminster-Canterbury’s Hoy Nursing Care Center in 2015 in conjunction with the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

SHARING THE NEWS

As prospects in your market consider various senior care services, they want to find organizations that they trust and that offer exceptional value. One way to achieve this is by providing insights on emerging therapy breakthroughs. Your organization can distinguish itself as a reliable destination for relevant and authoritative content, which you can share on your website, or in an email campaign or monthly newsletter. Or, like Westminster-Caterbury, you can even serve as a research collaborator and let your community know about your involvement.

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